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knightcallie · 10 months

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Baldur's Bounties: Language Learning

Language was something everyone shared and learned over their lifetime, and it came in many forms. Even a common language can have hundreds and thousands of different dialects. Weichei didn't realize his was so different than Faerûn's and forgets he wasn't with his typical party.

Weichei didn’t think it would’ve been a problem. He really, really didn’t think it would be one. All the gazes were questioning, his own lips parted and hands wondering how to sign next.

“Is, Is my Elvish that different?” he queried, signed.

Astarion’s gaze squinted, posture leaning towards one side. “Well— It’s still recognizable, but it’s more—” His coiffed head bobbled, trying to place it. “Sing-songy?” he offered, “Definitely different enough that I could notice darling.” His ruby eyes briefly glanced down at the drow’s hands.

Periwinkle eyes glance up briefly, before bobbling in self-affirmation. “Ruben does take on a more musical take on languages,” he recalled, “Kinda. Thought elvish in general sounds more sing-songy? To non-elves at least.”

Shadowheart lifted her chin a bit, brows furrowed a tad. “A bit, but I suppose it depends where you reside.” Her arms folded across her chest. “But you definitely don’t sound like a Faerûn native.”

There’s the unspoken ‘don’t look like one either’, but Wyll does note, “Or perhaps he’s from a part of Faerûn none of us been to. Northeast perhaps?”

The drow shook his head. “Fenim actually,” he replied, “Rubenschaun, Fenim. I’m not too sure how far exactly it is to Faerûn, but…” The forestline, he wondered how Beau was faring. “Far enough.”

It led to lots more questions about where he came from, what’s it like over there, the languages. Gale was particularly eager, and Weichei happily answered. Eres’ blessing burned pleasantly against his skin, patiently passionate. There’s talk about the possibility of using sign and signals in their repertoire, just to make communication easier on the battlefield. But, it will take teaching, and Weichei does have to think about what were the easier signs and signals to teach and see on the battlefield.

Though somehow, it did relax him enough to use a language he only really used for people he’s close to. He was sitting by Halsin, absentmindedly listening to the campfire talk during dinner. At some point, he must’ve reached for his hand, signing what the other’s were talking about, noting each speaker with a specific letter. He doesn’t really notice the eyes, until Lae’zel spoke up.

“What are you signing? Are you hiding something from us?”

Her harsh voice broke through his lull, his eyes blinking owlishly. Periwinkle eyes looked around, before landing on the large wood elf. A smile was received when it landed on him, before Weichei returned his gaze to the audience. “Uh—”

“Oh, telling some saucy secrets are we?” Astarion grinned, a suggestive smirk on his lips. “Care to share with the class darling?”

“If it helps,” Halsin started, “I do not know this code you’ve been signing on my hand, so I’m afraid there’s no secrets to be had,” he chuckled.

Karlach then piped with a groan, “Don’t tell me this is another thing we gotta learn, I’ve only got so much space to spare in this noggin’!”

At this point, Weichei had returned his hands to his chest before smiling sheepishly. “No, no— This was just something when I was still in my early years in bounty hunting.” He tucked a loc behind his ear. “Having cannons blow off so often does something to your hearing.” He tapped at his earrings, an enchanted gift from his closest friends and family. “Lorm just makes it easier to keep me in the loop or just have less misunderstandings.” He looked off into the distance with an amused look on his face, a memory surfacing. “I’m so glad I was safe from being eaten for dinner.”

#bg3 writing #writing #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 tav #my tav #weichei zauviir #bg3 companions #weichei realizing: oh gods dammit i fucked up #he is not from faerun and it shows #you would not believe the amount of mishearings back then #weichei being asked to be someone's ears #he thought he heard eels #in comes another and said 'eels sound good for dinner'#Weichei: NOOOO 😭😭😭 I DONT WANNA BE EATEN #he’s so smart but so stupid sometimes (fond)#looping it back to the mute!tav like even tho weich ain’t mute #also hbd to me!#of course the funniest and most thought provoking writing lands on my birth #note that I’m queuing these so #I’m just doing them in the order I wrote them + spacing them a week apart #Weichei tryna teach the group stuff he does as a bounty hunter #it’s never going to be as seamless but they’re trying!#thank the gods Weichei is patient but sometimes…#gale: why not use magic for this #Weichei: what happens when you use up your magic reserve #Weichei: what happens when you’re forcibly dampened #Weichei: and yes we have tadpoles BUT then it’d be like a crutch #Weichei: imagine you don’t have it and try to do it?#weichei: hope to gods you have someone who’s telepathic or something

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noes-pillow · 2 years

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✨️Vanoé Angst Week: Day 4✨️ @vanoeangstweek

I Didn't Mean for You to Find Out This Way

| 3.0k | read on ao3 | shhh I know I skipped a day |

Prompt:

Goodbyes | Unrequited Love | “I can’t do this anymore.”

Summary:

Noé was in love with Vanitas. That was not a secret. Not to the vampire or the human. He had been for a while. And that was also not a secret.

The amethyst-eyed vampire had decided he couldn’t take it any longer and confessed his feelings to his best friend and partner.

Vanitas just stared back at him in shock. The intense current flowing into his irises making them an impossibly bright shade of electric blue.

“Mon ami, I’m sorry. I don’t feel the same.”

-or-

Noé must come to terms with the fact that Vanitas will never love him back. And that sometimes you need to know when it's time to leave.

...

Noé was in love with Vanitas. That was not a secret. Not to the vampire or the human. He had been for a while. And that was also not a secret.

The amethyst-eyed vampire had decided he couldn’t take it any longer and confessed his feelings to his best friend and partner.

Vanitas just stared back at him in shock. The intense current flowing into his irises making them an impossibly bright shade of electric blue.

It was simultaneously the most beautiful sight that Noé had ever seen and also the most depressing.

“Mon ami, I’m sorry. I don’t feel the same.”

Noé had a feeling this would be the response he received.

“But, I’m glad you told me and am happy you trusted me enough to be so honest. I promise that I don’t think any less of you, and I still want us to stay partners.” Vanitas probably felt that his words would hurt Noé and that they weren’t enough.

But Noé had prepared himself for this response and he was surprisingly more relieved than he was saddened. As long as he could keep Vanitas in his life, romantic partner or not, he would be happy. As long as they could spend time together and work together, he would genuinely enjoy that time.

And now he was free. Free to feel like he wasn’t hiding anything from Vanitas any longer. Free from being hypervigilant of his own words and filtering what he thought he could say without giving himself away, God forbid that Vanitas find out his terrible secret on his own.

The secret that Noé was irrevocably in love with him.

But now he no longer needed to hide that fact. And the relief of that weight off Noé’s shoulders made him so happy. Not to say he wasn’t a little disappointed as well, but he could easily manage that.

He still had a strong friend in Vanitas, and that was all that mattered.

…

A few months later, Noé was having dinner in the dining room with Vanitas, Jeanne, and Dominique. It was not a special dinner by any means. Just a typical weekday where the four of them could enjoy each other’s company. Four friends simply spending quality time together.

Noé couldn’t be happier. He had this thought during every dinner, but that feeling never changed or faded. He loved his friends and valued the time he spent with them.

Domi had excused herself to leave early on account of her duties at Carbunculus Castle that evening, leaving three friends remaining.

It wasn’t abnormal for any of them to leave early. They all had lives, and jobs, and things to attend to.

Vanitas was next to excuse himself early. Amelia had passed him a letter during dinner. Another summons from Count Orlok “Status: Urgent,” which also wasn’t abnormal given the recent uptick in curse bearer sightings in Paris.

What was abnormal was something Noé had noticed before but never spent much thought on.

There was an odd tension between the other vampire and human sitting at the table as he departed. It wasn’t an awkward tension. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

Noé had observed Jeanne helping Vanitas on a few curse-bearer cases in recent weeks. But he couldn’t stop his mind from jumping to conclusions.

There had been, and still was, a near unbearable number of curse-bearers appearing in the city, and Vanitas had offered Noé some rest from work, to which the vampire declined.

Vanitas had continued to nag him about it. But he had only accepted once it was evident to Noé that he was becoming overworked and only once Vanitas had promised to bring another vampire along to protect him.

To solve the issue, Noé had asked Jeanne, who graciously accepted, and she had been keeping an eye on the human, protecting him from harm as he healed curse-bearers, whenever Noé was unavailable or too overworked to help investigate.

“Monsieur Noé?” Jeanne asked.

He had been deep in thought. Noé looked up to meet her golden eyes.

“I’d like to confide in you with something.” Her cheeks turned red, “but I need you to promise not to tell anyone or laugh at me.”

Noé was intrigued, “I cannot promise anything before you offer the information, but as long as my withholding of it will not cause anyone harm, I believe I can agree.”

Jeanne was not visibly comforted by this answer, but Noé couldn’t offer any other response. He had formulated a solid educated guess as to what words would follow, anyway.

“I…” her voice quivered. Noé knew why. “I think…”

To think this woman had killed hundreds of vampires. In this moment she didn’t seem anything like a Bourreau.

“I think I have developed sincere feelings for Vanitas.” Jeanne covered her very pink face with two hands.

The Hellfire Witch… a shy maiden? What a fearsome concept. Except, to Noé, it was fearsome. To him she was competition. And peculiarly, that scared him more than any opponent he could face on the battlefield.

Noé listened to her speak and after awhile the two found common ground. Noé decided to tell her about his similar feelings for the human as well.

The two laughed at their unfortunate situation, dissolving some of the awkward tension.

“Great minds think alike.” Noé had jokingly reminded her.

They both giggled a bit more, softly deviating the conversation from the original topic of discussion.

There was no following conversation of who, if any, was allowed to proceed with or act on their affections of the beautiful sapphire-eyed human. Noé thought there was no need.

Both Jeanne and Vanitas now were fully aware of Noé’s feelings. He had been more than open and honest to both of them on the matter of his affections. There was no need for him to worry. The three of them were friends first.

Jeanne wouldn’t make a move on the human unless she spoke to Noé first.

And Vanitas wouldn’t accept those advances without hesitation and considering Noé’s response.

Neither would happen if they valued their friendship.

Right?

Just three adults who knew better than to let romantic feelings get in the way of a strong platonic bond.

…

Noé was in a fantastic mood today. He woke up to a bright sunny sky, a day off from work, and to Murr who was wonderfully less irritable than usual.

The vampire had made an impromptu decision to go sightseeing alone. Vanitas had questioned his judgement, but curiously allowed the directionally challenged vampire to venture out into downtown Paris all by himself.

“I won’t get lost this time,” he had said, “I’ve been practicing.” He had said.

Noé did indeed get lost.

Not as lost as he usually did, but a little lost is still lost.

So, he made the best of it, as he usually did with life. He explored the shops, ate crepes, and got the most adorable little hat for Murr. It even matched his own white top hat.

Nothing could bring Noé’s mood down today. Nothing.

Once he found a familiar street, Noé happily skipped back to his and Vanitas’ room in Hotel Chouchou. He was very eager to show Vanitas the little trinket he bought for his charming Murr.

The light under the crack in the door indicated Vanitas was indeed in the room. Noé had missed dinner because of the unexpected duration of his excursion so he was happy to see that Vanitas hadn’t gone down to dinner either. Or if he had, he hadn’t been in the dining room for long.

Noé enthusiastically unlocked and opened the door, his smile shining brighter than the full moon through the window.

He was met with the most unexpected sight. His face dropped instantly in horror, and his body froze. Both Murr and his hat dropped to the ground.

The other two bodies in the room froze as well.

“V…Vanitas?”

Noé noticed a head of white hair in addition to the black.

“Jeanne?”

Silence.

“It… it’s not what it looks like!” Jeanne was quick to say in reply.

Why that excuse? It wasn’t even an excuse. If anything, it was an admission of guilt. Better not to say anything at all.

It was, in fact, what it looked like.

Noé might’ve been naïve, he knew that he was, but he was not an unobservant idiot.

Two red pearls of blood adorned Vanitas’ neck upon a pink rose shaped mark. His shirt was completely unbuttoned, bowtie discarded on the floor. Hands were in white hair when Noé had found them. But not his own white hair. It was Jeanne’s.

The woman was only partially clothed and had been clearly enjoying something other than a typical drink from the neck of her self-volunteered blood bag of a human.

Once he regained the ability to move, Noé squeezed his eyes closed and turned around in place, looking away from the pair and beyond embarrassed.

The other two were red with shame.

Noé heard the shuffling of sheets and clothing being frantically put back on. He still didn’t move from his spot.

An eternity of 34 seconds passed, Noé counted, before Jeanne decided to speak. Her words unsure and filled with regret.

“Monsieur Noé, we had been meaning to tell you…”

Noé shyly turned back around. His contorted face and wide eyes hinted for one of the two to continue.

Jeanne glanced at Vanitas, seemingly to ask for permission, but his expression was just one of avoidance. His eyes avoided any and all eye contact in the room, gold or amethyst. Jeanne decided for him.

“We’re courting.”

The previously elated and untouchable energy in Noé’s body crashed.

His heart dropped to his stomach so fast he almost gagged. The earth’s gravity seemed to grow tenfold. He was impressed with himself that he didn’t crumble to the floor right then and there.

But he did stumble. Lost his footing for a moment before dizzily regaining his balance.

This was a dream, right? It’s time to wake up now.

He didn’t wake up. It wasn’t a dream.

Noé couldn’t say a word.

He just looked at Vanitas for a response. Any response. The human didn’t say a damn thing.

“How long?” were the only two words Noé could softly squeak out.

Vanitas apprehensively decided to speak. “Noé…” he shook his head, assumedly in self disappointment.

Noé saw red.

Oh look, Vanitas decided to leave his daydream and finally join us back in reality.

Just as Jeanne was about to finish his sentence Vanitas put up a hand in her direction, indicating she should stop and allow him to speak.

“HOW. LONG?” Noé repeated himself, much more aggressively this time.

His eyes must have turned to their red shade because both people on Vanitas’ bed startled this time as he spoke.

“Six months,” the human stated.

Six months. Six months?

Suddenly all the puzzle pieces fell into place. Everything made sense. Terrible, horrible, awful, painful sense.

And Noé’s heart shattered.

Or at least he thought it did. This feeling was very similar to when he lost Louis.

But this time he was a lot angrier. And this time there was someone to blame.

“I didn’t mean for you to find out this way,” Vanitas continued, attempting to soothe the betrayed vampire.

Noé was just as furious as he was hurt and confused. “Well, it doesn’t matter what you mean now, does it?”

Noé could tell Vanitas acknowledged his statement to be correct. He could tell both Vanitas and Jeanne knew they had made a mistake keeping this from him.

Neither the human nor the golden-eyed vampire replied.

Noé broke the unbearably heavy silence. “I can’t do this anymore,” Noé whispered to the floor, utterly heartbroken.

“I…” Noé sighed, “…need to go.”

And with that, the amethyst-eyed vampire grabbed his dropped hat, wiped dirt off the crumpled brim, placed Murr on his shoulder, and turned to leave the room.

Jeanne immediately ran to follow him, “Wait, don’t leave yet, why don’t we just sit and talk this out?”

Noé contemplated her offer for the absolute briefest of moments. But Noé didn’t want to talk. He wouldn’t be able to. He was too much in shock. Talking was too much effort right now.

“I need some time to think. Please don’t follow me.” He looked at Jeanne and then shot a meaningful glance at Vanitas.

Vanitas looked away.

So Noé left the room, a heavy silence following him. He just wanted to see Domi. She would understand. She would help fill this unbearable silence. Or at least distract himself from the monsoon of thoughts whirling around his chaotic mind.

…

Domi was appalled. “That was an awful thing they did to you.”

Noé’s head rested in Domi’s lap as she ran her fingers through his hair. He wasn’t crying, but Domi knew he couldn’t take much more of an emotional strain before he did.

“They both knew how I felt.”

“I know.” Domi tried to soothe him with her words.

“And they both never told me anyway.” A long pause. “Never told me anything.”

“I know,” she said a little softer this time. She was truly gravely disappointed in the other pair. For being so careless and for hurting Noé.

Noé suddenly sat upright, a burst of energy presumptuously from anger. “What the hell? I mean, I know I don’t need to give them permission to court, but I thought they would at least take my feelings into account!”

Noé’s face softened as he finished speaking and looked down. His expression turned solemn once again. “I thought we were all friends, Domi.”

Domi was beginning to really grieve for Noé. It wasn’t fair to him what happened. But people were selfish. When all is said and done, people looked out for themselves first, and took others into account later. Especially when it involved dating. She hoped Noé would learn that soon enough. She couldn’t take much more of seeing Noé heartbroken like this… again.

These were all words she would voice to him at another time, when her childhood friend wasn’t trying to piece together his twice shattered heart with nothing but a lump of beeswax and broken tweezers.

His fragile heart was already missing pieces from the first time it shattered. When he lost Louis. Lost splinters of it were still stuck throughout his body where the skin healed over, hiding in plain sight.

Now he’d have to wait for a new and fresh collection of lacerations to heal. Wait for them to clot, scab, and scar. All of which would happen long before they even began to fade. And none would ever completely go away.

“I’ll always be by your side, Noé.” Domi reassured him. “You’re all I have left.” She looked away fighting tears, nostalgia apparent in her face. “Louis would want us to stick together.”

Oddly, Noé was a bit comforted by this idea. It did hurt to remember Louis when he was in a sorry excuse of mental state like this, but the needle pricks in his heart from Louis were a familiar pain when compared to the fresh stab of what he was feeling now.

…

“Anything to say?” Noé aggressively looked at Vanitas who looked at the ground for a moment before looking back at him. “You’ve been sitting here this whole time without saying a word.”

Noé knew his decision to sit and talk with the pair would be a struggle. Even if it took him months to decide that it was the best idea.

Vanitas knew Noé was right. There was nothing he could say to defend himself. But he might as well try. “I told you we’re both so very sorry. We just hope things can go back to the way that they were once you move on.”

“Excuse me?” Noé had been polite for long enough. “I think you are underestimating the significance of this situation in my eyes.”

Jeanne chewed on her cheek, evidently searching for words to respond.

Noé found them faster. “I don’t think I want things to go back to the way they were.”

Noé exhaled, trying to keep his words as eloquent as possible. If he couldn’t be nice, he could at least be direct. “I can’t trust you anymore. I don’t think I even should.”

Another pause. Noé knew this wasn’t going anywhere.

But he had unfortunately expected this. “I think I should go,” he resigned.

“Do you need more time to think?” Jeanne inquired.

“Oh no, I’ve had quite enough time to think. Ever since I left the room that day months ago, I’ve had plenty of time to think.” Noé stood. Standing made him feel in control. Because the rest of this situation was not.

Noé looked directly at Vanitas. “And I think my interests no longer align with yours, Vanitas. Our work together is done. Best of luck to you on finding a new shield.” He glanced toward Jeanne. “Although I feel like you won’t have too much trouble finding another.”

Jeanne looked up at him, a glimmer of hope for understanding still ignorantly in her eyes.

Vanitas had since found a corner of the room to fixedly stare at and hadn’t moved his gaze.

He continued. “Jeanne, you said earlier you wanted me to be happy for you both.” Noé grabbed his hat, coat, and filled suitcase with all of his belongings from the room.

“Well, we don’t always get what we want, do we…” a pause. He took his last long look at the human in the room. His partner, and best friend, “…Vanitas?”

Noé wasn’t expecting a reply.

A million words seemed to flood Vanitas’ mind as Noé left. Too many words. He evidently couldn’t filter through them fast enough to string a phrase together before the vampire left the room, so the sentence slipped through his fingers.

As did his friendship with his best friend.

Noé left his key on the desk and exited the room swiftly without another word.

He walked down to the lobby and out the front door.

And then he cried.

Noé would like to think Vanitas cried too.

fin

#this one hurt to write #it might not hurt as much to read but writing something based on a personal event is just... ow #also ya ya i skipped day 3 ill come back to it i had a TIME trying to think of an idea #as always GIVE FEEDBACK #I WANNA HEAR FROM YALL #i love my writing but sometimes i need a lil bit of motivation <3 #thanks for coming to my ted talk #VanoeAngstWeek2022 #vanoé angst week #noé archiviste #vanitas #vanoé #vanijeanne #vnc #vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #dominique de sade #i didn't mean for you to find out this way

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